Speed Gibson of the International Secret Police.
Ceiling zero. Ceiling zero. Ceiling zero.
Speed, Clint and Barney have had plenty of excitement since landing in Hong Kong on the trail of the octopus and his criminal gang, but they are not the only ones entangled in his tentacles.
Marsha Winfield has been kidnapped by the octopus because she knew too much about his band and has been smuggled aboard a flower boat that is slowly traveling up the Seong River to Hong Chau.
Clint and Barney fly after the boat in the bullet monoplane in the hope that they can rescue the girl, but right after their takeoff, Speed on the dock with Dr. Kingsley and little Gene notices another plane pursuing his uncle.
Recognizing it to be another octopus plane, Speed hurries to the doctor's home in order to warn Barney and his uncle. We find him at the set now trying to get through the airwaves.
KVMC calling OC-34. KVMC calling OC-34. Come in, Clint.
Why doesn't Clint answer, Speed?
He's probably too busy watching the riverboats to answer right away, Gene.
Well, do you think he has his set open to receive anything, Speed?
Oh, yes, sir. Maybe they've noticed that octopus pursuit plane too, but I'm not taking any chances.
OC-34 replying to KVMC. OC-34 replying to KVMC.
Oh, goody.
What's up, Speed? Standing by.
He's talking.
Gene, are you ready for two-way conversation, Clint?
Yes, Speed.
Then listen, right after you and Barney took off, another plane came up out of nowhere and last we saw, but it was following you.
Following us?
Yeah. Haven't you seen it?
Well, Barney and I haven't been watching anything but the river, the sky ahead, Speed. Now, wait a minute. I'll take a look.
Now that he's stopped talking long enough to take a look, maybe I'll have a chance. Hi, kid.
Hello, Barney. Have you seen anything of the flower boat yet?
Nothing but chimp hands and junk so far, but we're keeping our eyes peeled. Hold on, just a minute.
Can't see a sign of another plane, Speed. We've only seen a broken overcast up here over the river.
The other plane is probably above the clouds while we're fairly low over the river.
Yeah, in that case, what have we got to worry about? He sure won't fly into us.
You've got plenty to worry about, Barney. That pursuit plane is an octopus ship.
Uh-huh. What's that, Speed? What makes you think that?
It's exactly the same kind of a plane as you're in, Clint, and it looked awful suspicious following you that way right after you took off.
Yes, while you've been talking, I've been keeping an eye out for him. I haven't seen a thing yet. Maybe it's just a private plane, not for us, Speed.
Again, maybe not. Anyway, we'll keep watch, Speed, and thanks for the warning.
Then there's no limit on anything that should happen, will you, Clint? I'll stay right by the set here.
All right, Speed. So long, kid. O.C. three-four, shining on.
Gee, I don't like that plane business.
Do you think the octopus would have more than one plane?
Gee, he's got everything. That's why he's so hard to fight.
Why did he have to kidnap Marsha? I thought fighting was only done by men.
Say, that octopus guy don't recognize any rules, Gene. He fights anybody or anything that might stop him from getting what he wanted.
And Marsha had the onion skin map her brother sent her. Clint gave me his copy of it to study while he's gone.
Oh, he did. I wondered. He didn't give it to me. And I know he wouldn't leave it in the room at the Golden Lotus Hotel.
Speed, suppose them Clint and Barney have to land. Where will they land if the Siam River's too full of boats?
They don't have to land on water, Gene. That plane has landing wheels, too.
But Barney hasn't used them, so he hasn't let them down. No reason for him in the water.
Dog gone. I sure wish I was with them fellas now.
Seen anything of that other crate, Clint? No, but not likely to unless he drops down.
That overcast is getting pretty solid. Might run into rain.
Should have brought our umbrellas. That's the trouble with these open planes.
Get every bit of weather that comes along right in your face.
You should have stayed at home when you're nipping, Grandma.
What do you mean, Grandma? Ain't I flown in every kind of weather they got without squawking?
Sure. What are you kicking out for?
Oh, it's unnecessary. That's why.
It's going to be hard enough finding that floor boat that's carrying Marshall without getting a lot of rain in the face.
Rain in the face. Sounds like an Indian.
Hey, don't you think that's funny?
I don't think anything's funny right now. Least of all you, Barney.
We got a tough job to do. We have another octopus plane on our tail. We may not even get to do it.
So cut out the clowning.
I'm as worried about Marcia as you are, Clint. And just to set on finding her.
What if we have got an octopus plane on our tail? Why not, clown?
Here today and gone tomorrow. That's me.
You flatter yourself. You think you're here today.
Yeah.
You're all right, you old cloud jumper. Don't know what I'd do without you.
What? You don't know? Say, I wish the gang could hear you say that.
First time you ever broke down and admitted that.
Hey, hey.
Hey, look below. Ain't that a flower boat?
Yes, it is. It lose more altitude, Barney. I want to take a good look.
Don't worry. You'll get one. If I get any lower, I'll land on her deck.
At least that'll be the general idea and there'll be plenty of flowers for our funeral.
Well, it looks innocent enough. Now let's climb as high as we can.
Before getting into that overcast and see if we can spot any other flower boats up ahead.
If we can't, then we'll land and search this one.
Okay. But that ceiling's pretty low, I think.
Hey, hey, you don't have to go straight up.
Who's firing that ship?
We can't get much higher without going into the overcast, Clint.
Look, our top is getting tangled up and clouds already.
Okay. Level off the side slip. We'll have quick landing then, Barney.
Can you make a river landing?
Yeah, if you go all clear ahead of that flower boat, that's where we'll land so she'll have to stop.
Hey, hey, hold on. Level off, Barney. There's that pursuit plane.
Sure enough.
He dropped down behind us while we was ironing that river up ahead. What are the orders?
Lose altitude and see what he does.
That'll soon tell us whether he's following us. But no side slipping now. Now take it easy.
Okay.
He's over us now.
Hey, there's something mounted on the rear cockpit.
Could be a machine gun. It is a machine gun. He's just taken the cover off.
Suffering whangdoodles. Maybe war's been declared.
We wouldn't know messing around in the air as much as we do.
We're sure going to know it in a minute. Hey, hey, Barney, he's nosing down. He's coming right for us.
He is?
Hey, the ship got...
Right up big snake in the grass. Them drill bullets he's cooking at us. Look at our wings.
Oh, boy, that loop would be all saved.
Yeah, but not for long. Look at that fellow skiddoze he can get around and high tail after.
If he wants to play, I'm going to get up through that overcast so we'll have plenty of room to play in.
If we only had a machine gun, there's a carriage here for it, all right?
Yeah, but we can't shoot the carriage. How's our plane going to get through that overcast?
Yeah, but we can't shoot the carriage. How's our playful plane doing?
He's coming right after us, but he's not gaining.
His ship isn't any faster than ours. That's one thing to be thankful for.
Better get your gun out, though, Clint. You might be able to do a little good with it.
We might. I don't want to get that close if we can help it.
That hail of machine gun bullets can't do us any good.
Yeah, what we need is a cannon.
Up here we go into the overcast.
And come out looking to. Don't tell them where that other plane will pop up.
Hey, how much gas we got?
We've got it out with plenty, but I don't know if those bullets punctured any of the tanks or not.
We'll soon find out.
We're getting to a dogfight with no gas.
Either that or establish a new altitude record with no gas.
We were sapped to tackle this flight alone, anyhow.
Oh, not necessarily. Just bad breaks, Bonnie.
There's no use crapping. We're going to have to figure a way out of this.
A way to get back to that flower boat.
We probably won't have to figure much.
We'll use enough lead bullets and we'll make the quickest landing you ever saw.
Hey, the overcast is lighting up.
We're breaking through.
Yeah, boy, it's bright after those clouds.
The sky is empty so far.
Yeah, but not for long.
I'm aiming my prop at the sun for a little while.
And just in case we do make a force landing, I'll have plenty of altitude to play around in.
Hey, there's the other plane right on our camp.
Boy, oh boy, I wish I could add about another hundred miles to our airspeed indicator.
You think you ought to tell Speed what's happening over the radio telephone?
No, there's no use worrying him.
He'd go crazy if he knew the spot we're in.
I'll wait and tell him after it's all over.
Yeah, you'll tell him if you're still able to talk.
Gee, I sure wish we'd get some word from Clint and Barney.
I hate to call them again and bother them.
Yes, they'll probably call you the moment they have anything important to tell us, Speed.
That's the octopus. That's the sound he always makes.
The octopus?
That's him, all right, Doctor.
Yes, I am the octopus, Speed Gibson.
Can you hear me, octopus?
Perfectly.
But how did you come in? How can you hear me?
I can do many things with my ultra-high frequency set that no one else understands.
But aren't you more interested in your uncle just now?
Clint, what do you know about him?
I know that he and Barney are flying for their lives.
Flying from my pursuit plane, which has a machine gun trained on them.
You can't do anything to my uncle and Barney.
Oh, can't I?
At this moment they are trying to fly away from my plane,
but the bullets have already found their mark in the reserve gasoline tanks of the plane Barla's plane.
It won't be long until his other gasoline is gone, and then his motor will fail.
Barney will still bring her to a landing.
Oh, no, because he'll lose airspeed by doing so.
And then my flyer will drop down and the machine gun will end your uncle's promising career.
Oh, no, you can't do that.
It is too late. I have done it.
What can we do?
Oh, Speed, can't we help them? Can't you talk to Clint and Barney?
They're trying. KVMC, call an OC34. Clint and Barney, come in.
I've got to reach them. KVMC, call an OC34. KVMC, call an OC34.
Oh, no, you can't do that.
Music